Ron Teachworth: Abstractionist and/or Realist

One of the remarkable and consistent leitmotifs in the oeuvre of Ron Teachworth over the years is the unmistakable dominance in his paintings and watercolors of either a sky or pure abstract field of color and pattern. Combining the two terms, this phenomenon might be aptly described as a “sky-field.” That is, in his realist world of seascapes and landscapes what one reads as sky becomes in the non-objective images a flat, abstract field (or ground or plane). Though his paintings are mostly modest in scale (ranging in size from 2 x 3 to 3 l/2 x 5 feet), the skies in his sea- or landscapes feel vast, dwarfing the beach, land, trees, lifeguard stands, man standing on his hands, or pole-like markers, all of which populate and humanize the artist’s representational scenes.

However, even in the abstractions that are seemingly devoid of naturalistic references, the geometric shapes (triangles, diamonds, parallelograms, etc.) are animated by tiny lozenge shapes, confetti like squiggles, or blips or daubs of pigment that recall star-studded firmaments, northern lights, or concentric planetary auras. These colorful, molecular elements, visible in both bodies of work, skyscapes and abstracts, tame and intimize these sky-fields and, interestingly, tip the realist paintings toward abstraction and the non-representational examples in the direction of naturalism.

Teachworth’s geometric shapes are, by the way, just quirky, skewed, and off centered enough to further enliven the field paintings. (In the sky views the heavens are usually symmetrically disposed.) Impastoed surfaces and vibrant color energize these paintings as well, whether the more or less accurate local color of the sea or land views or the kinetic clashes and calming harmonies of the abstractions.

Despite the mysteriously animated movements that go bump in these sky-fields, Teachworth’s paintings project a serene and pacific mood. These contemplative compositions are engendered largely by the carefully calibrated proportional relationships between the geometrical forms and the frequently dense, always lively patterning displayed both within and outside their perimeters. Indeed, the artist brings a kind of order to our expanding universe by his segmenting and patterning. The realist works share this quietude as well in part because of the small scale of the represented elements and the spare (one or two per composition) employment of his vocabulary of lifeguard chairs, markers, or figures. Notably, what all the depicted items share is verticality, thereby functioning as wee but emphatically upright indicators of human presence in a seemingly infinite macrocosm.

Thus, just as the diminutive figural, structural, or organic (trees deployed in orchard formation) components suggest human life (albeit a minuscule one), the segmenting and patterning within the non-objective compositions imply as well a human drive to impose order onto the cosmos. This metaphysical balancing act, sensitively and persuasively embodied in his paintings, lies at the core of both Teachworth’s life and art.